Kidding Right?
by wonderkid100
Summary: The young lad held out his hand across the desk for Pepper to shake, "I'm Lucas, Tony's son," then he nodded towards the baby, "and that's Elizabeth, his daughter." Pepper looked at her billionaire boyfriend and cocked an eyebrow, "He's kidding right?" (MovieVerse)
1. Chapter 1

**IRON MAN: Kidding Right?**

_**Disclaimer: **_Iron Man characters belong to Marvel et al. Lucas Anthony Chase and Elizabeth Maria Chase belong to me! :)

_**Author's Note: **_I'm inspired to write an Iron Man fanfiction after becoming obsessed with the amazing Robert Downey Junior. I don't have much knowledge on Iron Man apart from what the two movies and occasional Wikipedia searches tell me so I hope I do it justice! All reviews including constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome and much appreciated. Also I'm English so sorry if you find the occasional 'Britishism' in my work and my knowledge of America all comes from TV, movies and the internet so please don't hate if I portray it wrong lol!

_**Additional notes: **_Movieverse! Set after IM2!

_**Summary:**_The young lad held out his hand across the desk for Pepper to shake, "I'm Lucas, Tony's son," then he nodded towards the baby, "and that's Elizabeth, his daughter." Pepper looked at her billionaire boyfriend and cocked an eyebrow, "He's kidding right?"

**CHAPTER ONE: **

Tony Stark hated board meetings, especially ones that dragged out longer than needed. Surely as CEO of Stark Industries he could hire someone to go to these things for him. Oh that's right, he'd tried that 3 years ago which resulted in very angry share holders and one very bad telling off from Pepper. Although in hindsight grabbing a random high school kid off the street and paying him $100 plus an Armani suit to take his place for a couple of hours hadn't been one of his brightest ideas considering he was a genius.

Like a teenager wanting to play truant from school; millions of feeble excuses to miss the meeting today ran through his mind as he entered the massive Stark Industries building, with a half eaten box of Randy's donuts in his hand. He walked up to the front desk and plastered on a smile for the pretty young receptionist. "Good morning Sarah."

"Sandra, my name is Sandra, Mr Stark." She corrected.

Tony just took a bite out of a donut and continued, "Have you seen Miss Potts this morning?"

"Not this morning Mr Stark."

"Okay, no worries Sarah." Tony smirked to himself as 'Sarah' was about to correct him again but he walked away before she got the chance. Oh how he loved winding up employees, it made his day at the office ten times better. Although what usually made his day a hundred times better was seeing his personal assistant/girlfriend of 4 months, Virginia 'Pepper' Potts. Even if she did usually prefer to keep him busy with useless business related stuff all day rather than sneak off for a 'quickie in the supply closet' so to speak but, he was working on that. The billionaire playboy was living proof that business and pleasure could be mixed.

Tony was now so caught up in his thoughts of Pepper, he was hardly conscious of entering the elevator and pressing the fourteenth floor button.

First floor.

He couldn't wait until tonight, hopefully there would be no major crime in the city so he could wine and dine Pepper without interruption, then afterwards they could curl up on the sofa cuddling, something Tony had grown quite fond of over the past months, talking about nonsense and stealing quick kisses in between having their usual banter.

Third floor.

Then when it went silent he'd tell her, he'd whisper it softly into her ear that he loved her, something he'd came to the conclusion just one week into their relationship but he was having trouble expressing it. But tonight he decided it was time, he could easily say them three words, there was nothing to be afraid of. He and Pepper were great together.

Fifth floor.

He found his thoughts interrupted by a young man who wanted the twelfth floor.

"Good morning Mr Stark." He said nervously. Tony just nodded at him and gave a slight smile. The man fiddled nervously with his black tie as they went up three floors in silence before eventually saying, "My son is a really big fan of yours sir, I was just wondering if you could sign this for him?"

Tony watched the man pull out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket, he unfolded it to reveal a magazine page with a picture of his superhero alter ego Iron Man taking up half of it.

Ninth floor.

The CEO rolled his eyes, he hated constantly being asked to sign autographs on behalf of Iron Man partly because he already got enough media and fan attention just from being Tony Stark without Iron Man and partly because most of the time he didn't know what to write. He recalled one incident 6 months ago some woman in accounting asked for him to sign an Iron Man themed copy of TIME magazine for her daughter and he'd put _'To Louise from Iron Man, call me ;)' _how was he supposed to know that Louise was a four year old? Especially considering her mother looked about 65.

Just then the elevator doors opened, thank god, Tony thought, twelfth floor. "Give him these instead," he pushed his box of donuts into the employee's hands "they're part of Iron Man's upcoming limited 'diet range' merchandise."

With a look of confusion the man mumbled his thanks and backed out the elevator. Tony sighed as he continued going up. Thoughts going back to Pepper, he pulled out his Blackberry and quickly typed up a message to her; _'Hurry up, I'm being harassed by employees and I need you to save me! ;) xx' _and send. The Blackberry was nothing compared to the one of a kind transparent Smartphone he'd designed alongside LG but he'd bought the Blackberry just so he could 'BBM' Pepper and continuously 'ping' her during meetings just for amusement.

Fourteenth floor.

Tony left the elevator, as he made his way down the corridor he said the ritual 'good mornings' to passing employees four of which he had never seen, two he recognised but still didn't know their names and one that he'd once bedded, he didn't know her name either. This one winked at him as he passed, which he ignored, even after 4 months women still pursued him as if they thought he was incapable of being loyal to his girlfriend though looking back at his previous promiscuous life style he couldn't really blame them. He finally made it to his office which was going to be his hiding place from going to the upcoming board meeting for the next three hours. Admittedly it wasn't a very good hiding place but he knew it was the first place Pepper would come looking for him and the sooner he saw her, the better.

He pushed open his office door, so caught up in his thoughts he wouldn't have noticed the person sitting in his desk chair straight away if they hadn't have spoken.

"Tony Stark!"

Tony stopped in his tracks; sitting at his desk was a young boy of about 7-8 years old, dark brown maybe black hair and brown eyes. If the thought wasn't so ludicrous, Tony would have thought he was looking at a miniature version of himself. _These interns are getting younger and younger_, he thought to himself.

"Did you bring me coffee kid?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Erm, no sir."

Tony gave an exaggerated sigh, then he noticed a baby with a mop of brown hair, lighter than the boy's and brown eyes just as dark as his in yellow baby grows sitting on the floor playing with the Newton's cradle that had been on his desk, gurgling away contently trying to figure it out. Could this get any weirder? None the less he took a seat opposite the boy, this could keep him amused until Pepper arrived.

"Where's your parents kid?" Tony didn't remember any rules about employees being able to bring they're brats to work, he'd have to ask Pepper about that one, after all she was usually the one making and agreeing to company rules on behalf of him.

"I snuck into the building sir," the boy replied, avoiding a direct answer to Tony's question. "We've been here since 7." He seemed to be boasting about this fact.

The older man looked at his black and silver Jager-LeCoultre watch, it was just gone 9 now, caretakers usually opened up around 6:30 with security showing up about half an hour later, so if this was true the boy must have managed to sneak in un-noticed between that window.

"Impressive kid," said Tony, "let me guess, you and your..." he looked at the baby.

"Sister,"

"You and your sister are big Iron Man fans so you crept out before mom and dad woke up, hopped on the first bus and thought you'd wait here until I turned up for an autograph or something."

"Erm..."

"If this isn't going to somehow earn me a lawsuit from the parents I don't now what is," he thought out loud, "Iron Man kidnaps helpless children."

"It's not like that sir, my mom dropped me and my sister off outside the building this morning then she left."

"Uh-huh," Tony nodded although he didn't believe a word of this, anytime soon security was going to come looking for some random employee's two children, he was sure of it. He felt his Blackberry start to vibrate, he took it out his pocket; new message from Pepper.

'_You'll need saving from me if you're not ready for your meeting today, I'll be with you in about 10 minutes! X'_

Tony glanced at the young boy in front of him who was just sitting there patiently before replying to Pepper: _'I think the company is being taken over by miniature adults xx'_

'_Huh? X' _she replied straight away.

'_You'll see :P xx'_

Pepper read Tony's last message but he could see that she wasn't replying. She'd be here soon anyway. He turned his attention back to the children. "So kiddo I bet you can't wait to tell all your friends that you met Iron Man."

The boy just shrugged then held his stomach "I'm hungry," he said. "Have you got any candy?"

"Yeah actually, I was saving them for later but here," Tony pulled a bag of skittles from his jacket pocket and threw them to the kid, smiling at the memory of his mom always scolding him for eating too much candy.

"Thanks sir!" said the kid as he ripped the packet open, "I love skittles! Especially the red ones!" he picked out a red one, threw it in the air and caught it in his mouth.

"Nice one!"

The boy smiled, "Here," he passed Tony a purple skittle, "your turn!"

Tony accepted the challenge, not wanting to be bested by a kid. Like the boy he threw it up in the air but failed the catch it in his mouth, instead it hit him in his eye. "Dammit..." he mumbled rubbing his left eye.

The boy giggled and his sister seemed to be amused too. He held out another skittle and Tony took it.

"Okay, this time I'll do it." Again he threw the skittle into the air, this time he managed to catch it in his mouth. "Oh yeah!" He high fived the boy.

The boy then started throwing the skittles for Tony to catch into his mouth, every time Tony caught one he moved backwards a bit. He enjoyed acting like a kid, it sure beat preparing for the meeting he wasn't planning on going to even if Pepper was going to kill him. Oh yeah, where was Pepper?

"Anthony Stark!"

Speak of the devil. Tony spun round thus getting hit in the back of the head by the last piece of candy the kid had thrown. "Good morning honey." He said with an over exaggerated smile but his girlfriend was not impressed.

She marched up to him waggling her finger. "This does not look like preparation! Do you know just how important this meeting is!"

"Erm..." Tony mumbled, feeling like a little boy who's mom just caught him wagging off from doing homework "...as important as all them other meetings that I'm never prepared for?"

"Don't get smart with me!" Pepper prodded Tony's chest with every word that left her mouth.

"It's his fault," Tony pointed to the boy behind the desk, "he distracted me!"

Pepper looked to where Tony was pointing, "Who are they?"

"I'm not sure," Tony shrugged, "They were just here when I turned up, ready to prepare for the meeting."

"Didn't you think to call security?"

"I was just about to when you came." He lied.

Pepper rolled her eyes and marched past Tony over to the desk, "Hey sweetie," she said softly to the boy, "I'm Pepper, what's your name?" she asked, something Tony had not even thought about doing.

The young lad held out his hand across the desk which Pepper shook, "I'm Lucas, Tony's son," then he nodded towards the baby, "and that's Elizabeth, his daughter."

Pepper looked at her billionaire boyfriend and cocked an eyebrow, "He's kidding right?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Kidding Right?**

_**Author's Note: **_Thanks for all the reviews guys and sorry for taking so long to update, unfortunately life and stuff gets in the way sometimes. But please bare with me and I shall work my hardest to get chapters out regularly now! Also, I saw the Avengers and it was AWESOME! So awesome in fact I went to see it three times! :D

**CHAPTER TWO:**

It was pretty safe to say that Tony wasn't going to his meeting this morning. Although, under the circumstance as to why he was unsure as to whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

It wasn't an unsual situation for him; being occasionally accused of fathering a child. He was rich, handsome and once promiscuous. That made for an easy target amongst women looking for a baby daddy.

He was used to it, so he shouldn't be as nervous as he felt right now. But this time something felt different, the boy looked so much like him, it was freaky. Maybe it was true.

No.

It couldn't be.

Because of 'you're the father' scandles like this he was careful when it came to sex... Well most of the time he was. Plus not to mention getting the same woman pregnant roughly seven years apart, what were the chances?

Dammit!

"Tony... Tony!"

"Huh..." Tony snapped out of his thoughts, Pepper was approaching him with the baby, Elizabeth, in her arms and the boy following her.

"I'm going to call security," she said. "And prehaps a lawyer too."

Tony looked down at the boy, brown eyes meeting brown eyes. "What did you say your name was kid? And how old are you?"

"Lucas," the boy replied. "It was my seventh birthday last week."

"Full name."

"Lucas Anthony Chase."

Tony raised an eyebrow someone had gone through the trouble of making this boy's middle name his first name. "What about your sister, what's her full name?"

"Elizabeth Maria Chase. She's this many months old."

Tony looked at the six fingers Lucas held up but he wasn't really bothered about that. Maria, that was the name of his late mother. "Am I being Punk'd?" he asked, looking around. "Is Ashton Kutcher about to jump out?"

"Tony!" Pepper snapped. "This is no time for joking around."

Tony straightened up a bit. "Pep, you don't seriously believe this nonsense do you?" Despite calling it nonsense he himself couldn't shake the feeling at least one of these children was somehow related to him.

"Hey!" Lucas crossed his arms and looked up at him. "It isn't nonsense. You're my dad. My mommy said so."

Tony matched the boy's challanging look and asked, "So who's your mommy then?"

"Diana Chase."

"Diana Chase?" Repeated Pepper quizically.

Tony shook his head. "Doesn't ring any bells," he said before quickly adding, "Although there's a chance I may have been really drunk. Twice."

"That wouldn't surprise me," Pepper sighed. "Where do you live Lucas?"

"Oceanside!"

"In San Diego?"

"Yup," the boy nodded. "We took an aeroplane here and stayed in a hotel last night."

Pepper adjusted the baby onto her left arm. "What are we going to do Tony?"

_We, _Tony thought. At least it wasn't 'what are '_you_' going to do?'.

"Call security, have them check the building for any one that's lost two children. If not, we check over the CCTV footage to see if what the kid says is true about his mom dropping them off outside the building. And then if needed a DNA test is in order. Also a trip to the hotel Lucas said he stayed at, hopefully this Diana Chase is still there as me and her need words about leaving her goods on my doorstep."

"We should call the cops too."

"Not yet. Let's at least get the DNA results first, I don't want any more people than needed knowing. Plus if I can return these children safely to the mom, there's no harm done." Tony crossed his arms, Pepper gave him a thoughtful look. "What?" he asked.

"Is this just some elaborate plan to get out of going to that meeting?"

"Give me some credit Pep."

"I wouldn't put anything past you Tony." Using her free hand Pepper pulled Lucas closer to her. "I'll deal with these two then and so you can still go to the meeting."

"No!" Tony protested. "You go to the meeting."

"You're the CEO." Pepper pointed out.

"Well then I'll make you CEO again. Or we can just reschedual."

"Can I go to the meeting?" Lucas grinned a hopeful grin.

"Yeah can't he go?" Tony whinned. "Get him a suit, some platform shoes. I'm sure we can pass him off for me."

Pepper rolled her eyes and squeezed Lucas' shoulder. "Unfortunately all the important people at this meeting want Mr Stark and if they don't get Mr Stark they are going to be very angry." She stressed the last two words.

"I'm Mr Stark too," Lucas said. "Sorta."

Tony didn't know what to say, this boy was adament that they were father and son. "I'll go to the meeting." He finally gave up, realising he'd probably get more chance of rest in the meeting than out of it.

"Thank you."

Tony half smiled and gave Pepper a kiss on the cheek. "Keep me updated and I'll be with you as soon as this meeting is over. If I don't die of boredom first that is." He turned to leave then looked back at Lucas. "It was nice meeting you kid."

"You too dad." This was the last thing Tony heard before he left the office.

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

'_PING!... PING!... PING!... PING!... PING!'_

'_Tony! Concentrate on the meeting.' _

'_No kiss? :( xxx'_

'_X now back to the meeting. X'_

'_Dinner at mine later? Xxx... Pep? Xxx... Stop reading my messages and not replying! Xxx... Hey! This is not proper BBM etiquette! :P xxx'_

Tony gave up after this, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and rest his head in his hands as some suit, Mr Benson, blabbered away about profit projections whilst pacing back and forward.

"Mr Stark, do you have any suggestions on how to tackle the rising costs of the Iron Works division?"

"Get rid of it," Tony mumbled. "Hire cheap foreign workers. Change it into Wood Works division; it's a cheaper material."

"Mr Stark!"

"You asked I answered."

"Mr Stark this is a very important topic."

"Well then ask him." Tony waggled his finger at the skinny man sitting across the table from him. "He looks important."

"That's my assisstant," Mr Benson said.

"And a very important one indeed." He smiled at the assisstant who just turned a light shade of red.

"Tony!" Mr Benson raised his voice and then took a moment to compose himself before continuing. "Mr Stark, if we do not come up with a plan of action to sort out this problem with Iron Works, Mr Hakuma of Red Ring international is seriously reconsidering making an investment within this divison."

"Do you have children?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, them little creatures that men and women sometimes make with sex." Tony looked around at all the people sitting at the table. "Do any of you have children?"

Much to Tony's frustration, nobody replied instead they just exchanged confused looks and murmers with eachother. The CEO got out of his seat and headed towards the door.

"Mr Stark, where are youu going?" Mr Benson questioned.

"For a walk." Tony couldn't be bothered to come up with some elaborate lie. "You don't really need me here anyway." Before he could be questioned any further he was out of the room and sending Pepper another message.

'_Don't kill me Pepper, but I've walked out the meeting xxx'_ Tony found himself wandering into the nearest staff room whilst bracing himself for the hell he was about to catch.

'_This better be good. X' _Read his girlfriend's reply, at least she remembered the kiss. He ignored the greetings of several employees and laid dow on a sofa at the side of the room. Holding the Blackberry above his face he quickly wrote back.

'_It's not everyday a man finds out he may be a father. Stressful times xxx'_

'_This is the third time in the past year you've been accused of fathering a child. So it is an everyday thing for you. X'_

'_But this time it's different xxx'_

'_How? X'_

Tony took a bit more time to answer this time and even then he was still unsure of what he was writing. _'I don't know Pep, it just feels different xxx' _This time Pepper didn't reply straight away either, in fact she didn't even read the message. _'What's happening now? Xxx' _Tony typed.

'_Lucas' story seems to check out. CCTV shows he was dropped outside the building this morning along with Elizabeth. X'_ Pepper finally wrote back.

'_Great. I'm going to look up this Diana woman so we can return her lost property ASAP xxx'_

'_Where are you? X'_

'_Staff room 9__th__ floor xxx'_

'_See you in a minute. X'_

Tony used his other, more technologically efficient, phone to search Diana Chase. He initiated a search of all the people named Diana Chase over the age of 25 and under the age of 50 in Oceanside. A list of about a dozon names came up. With a press on the touch screen the names turned into holograms of photos which he could scroll through with a simple hand movement.

A picture of one of the woman looked vaguely familiar. Long brown hair, green eyes and a smile that was obviously forced. She was very pretty, Tony wouldn't put himself past sleeping with her in the past. The information that accompanied the picture said that she was 29 years old and her employment was currently unknown.

"Mommy!"

Tony turned his head to see Lucas bounding towards him followed by Pepper holding Elizabeth. The only other people in the staff room, a group of workers standing by the coffee machine, didn't even try to hide their amused looks as they watched the scene in front of them. But when Tony shot them a less than friendly glance they quickly averted their gaze.

"That's my mommy." Lucas poked at the hologram photo, apparently fascinated at the fact his finger could easily pass through it. Tony sat up and handed him the phone to keep him amused.

"Tony," Pepper sat next to him, balancing Elizabeth on her knee.

"That's the mom." Tony nodded at the pictures that Lucas was sitting on the floor scrolling through. "And I hate to say it, but I think I've slept with her at least once." He ran his hands through his hair and sat back, staring at the ceiling. "What am I going to do Pepper?"

"Well first," she set Elizabeth on the ground and produced three plastic bags containing swabs. Tony hadn't even noticed her carrying them. "A DNA test just like you ordered."

"Hey, you guys!" Tony called getting the group still huddled by the coffee machine. "Can I get some privacy in here please?"

"Tony!" Pepper scoulded but the group reluctantly done what their boss told them to. "Sorry," She apologised on Tony's behalf as they obediently left.

Whilst Tony went through the all too familiar proceedure of sticking the swab in his mouth for a sample of cheek cells, Pepper got samples from the two children.

He pondered the idea of keeping samples of his DNA in some sort of bank so that when ever situations like the current arose women could test their children without having to ever bother him.

"Here." He put the swab back in the bag and handed it to Pepper. She scribbled his inititals on it.

"I'll run these across town to Dr Michaels," she said. Despite the building they were in having some of the best medical facilities the city had to offer, Tony never let them handle paternity tests any more. He'd learnt the hard way after a leaked test on a young girl a couple of years back turned into a media frenzy. Luckily, Pepper had a doctor friend at the local hospital who gladly would gladly do the tests and keep quiet about them.

"No," Tony shook his head. "You've done enough, send Happy to do it." He trusted his long time chauffeur with matters like this.

"Happy went on holiday yesterday."

"Oh yeah," he briefly recalled the chauffeur talking about hotels in Hawaii. "I'll come too then." He got up and grinned at his girlfriend.

"Who's going to watch Lucas and Elizabeth? And before you say anything, they can't come. I don't remember your death trap car being fitted with a booster seat."

Tony groaned, "Have you ever been in trouble with the law Miss Potts?"

"Only on behalf of you Mr Stark."

"Touche," Tony said half grinning. "I'll go and you stay here then."

"Hmm..." Pepper pursed her lips. "I guess that whilst you're gone I can sort out the mess you made of that meeting."

"Sorry..." Tony began.

"Don't mention it. Just pick up some diapers, baby food and formula on the way. I'll get Lucas something to eat from the canteen."

Lucas looked up at the mention of his name. "Kiddo you wanna come with?" Tony asked him. "You can take me to that hotel you stayed in, see if we can find your mom."

"Sure." The boy nodded excitedly.

"No, he's to young to ride without a car seat too," said Pepper. "Sorry Lucas but after we get you some food and I sort out Mr Stark's meeting crisis I can give you a tour around the building." She tried to make this sound as appealing as she could to the seven year old but he still shook his head.

"I wanna go with him."

"I'll drive carefully. And I'll make him wear a seat belt," Tony insisted as he took the DNA samples from the woman's hand. "C'mon Lucas." He ushered the boy out of the room whilst Pepper yelled her protests at him.

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

"This car is awesome!" yelled Lucas as he and Tony sped down the road in the white Audi R8 V10 Spyder sports car.

"I know right. If only we weren't in the city then I could show you just how fast this baby really goes."

"I want a car just like this when I'm older dad."

"Dad..." Tony repeated quietly whilst pulling up at the lights. "Look kiddo, call me Tony or Mr Stark. Even Iron Man if you really want to."

"But you're dad."

"Lucas," Tony tried not to sound too harsh. "I know you want to believe it but I'm sorry buddy; I'm not your dad."

"But my mom said you was."

"Well your mommy li..." Tony quickly changed his mind he didn't think telling a seven year old that his mom was a liar would go down very well. "Your mom just made a mistake and this DNA test we're doing is just to prove it."

Lucas crossed his arms and turned his head away from Tony in a defiant manner. "Whatever," the older man heard him say under his breath.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note:**_Just when I found time to start writing again I started at a new job which and attending college! Sorry for making you wait for this. Spare time for me is even more scarce than it used to be between working and studying *sigh*!... The story is still going at a slow pace at the moment, I think that's my trademark thing: I don't really like to skip straight to the good stuff. Again I apologise if this annoys people but I pinky promise there'll be no waiting for a year for another update now I've settled in everywhere! ;P

**CHAPTER THREE:**

Trust the hospital to be having a 'busy day'. No matter how much money Tony had tried to bribe Dr Michaels with he insisted the earliest he could get the results were tomorrow morning and that was pushing it. Still Tony would return the two children to their mother later, she'd just have to be as patient as him for the results proving him not to be the father.

"Dad."

"It's Tony."

"Dad!"

"Tony!"

"Daaaaaad!"

"Lucas!" Tony snapped. Looking over his shoulder he lowered his voice, "Do not call me that, especially in such a public place."

Lucas gave a loud sigh as he followed the billionaire down the supermarket aisle.

"I'm just baby sitting!" Tony exclaimed to shoppers giving him skeptical looks. "Thought I'd earn a bit of extra money." He found the diapers stacked on a shelf and randomly picked out a packet.

"No." Lucas shook his head and replaced the packet in Tony's hand with a different one. "Mom always buys the ones with this number on." He studied the number on the pack closey and opened his mouth several times but said nothing.

"Size three?" Tony put him out of his misery, purposely ignoring the boy's apparent struggle to read. Lucas was not his son, therefore it was not his problem.

"Yeah size three." Lucas held up three fingers. "Three."

"Okay," he took the boys word for it, he didn't exactly know any better. Up until now he thought diapers were one size fits all. He let Lucas point out the formula and baby food too. Apparently you couldn't feed a baby with only a couple of teeth beef burgers. Along with these items he also filled the shopping basket with a baby bottle, baby wipes, two large bags of skittles and a box of microwave curry picked out by Lucas and an extra large bar of Pepper's favourite chocolate.

To his luck the checkout was empty when he got to it. Not so much to his luck the checkout girl had to be an over excited teenage girl.

"OMG!" she squealed with an ear spllitting pitch. "You're Tony Stark! You're like the metal man!"

"Iron Man," Tony corrected which went went unnoticed. The focus of the girl's attention had changed.

"Isn't he like just so adorable." She reached out a hand to ruffle Lucas' hair. He didn't seem to mind, in fact he played up to it with a cute smile.

"Isn't he just. Now how much will that be?" Tony pulled out his wallet even though the girl hadn't scanned any items yet.

"He looks just like you Mr Stark," she said, continuing to ignore him. "Is he like a clone or something? Because you're like proper smart right and smart people like making stuff like clones right?"

"Erm... Like yes." Tony pulled out a $100 bill and pushed it into the girl's hands, "I'm sure this will cover the cost of this stuff." Not bothering with a bag he started piling his shopping items on top of each other.

"I'm not a clone," said Lucas. "I'm his s..." the last word came out in a muffle as Tony's hand covered the boy's mouth, nearly dropping his shopping items in he process.

"He's in denial. You know how these clone types can be." Tony chuckled nervously, skillfully balancing the items in one hand.

"I guess," the checkout girl looked at him absantly. "It must be like so hard knowing your always living in your original's shadow."

"Maybe you should start a support group for them." Tony joked, but unsurprisingly the girl seemed deadly serious about his suggestion. As she began airing her thoughts on how to do this, he was already pushing Lucas towards the exit.

"Back to the office now dad?" Lucas asked with a grin, bounding across the carpark to the very out of place supercar.

Tony surpressed a growl, luckily no one was in ear shot of the kid at the moment. "For a bit, then we're going to return you to your mother."

Lucas stopped in his tracks, a sad look quickly spread across his face. "But dad I wanna stay with you."

"Just get in the car kid."

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

"Mr Benson I cannot stress how sorry I am." Pepper apologised for what felt like the hundreth time in the past minute.

"That's okay Miss Potts," Mr Benson stopped typing and peered over the top of his laptop. At Tony's sudden departure from the meeting a rain check had been called. "Hopefully some of your dedication to this business will soon rub off on your boyfriend."

Pepper felt compelled to stick up for Tony, despite being just as angry as the man in front of her. "Mr Stark is very dedicated to this business." She glanced around the office awkwardly trying to think of a reasonable albeit feeble excuse. "He's just got a lot on his mind at the moment."

"Like his next car, his next party or next conquest?" As soon as the last words had left Mr Benson's mouth he was the one apologising. "I'm sorry Miss Potts, I didn't mean it like that."

Pepper inhaled sharply but kept her calm. "Yes you did." There was a momentary silence before Mr Benson apologised again and carried on.

"I know he has this Iron Man thing going on. And don't get me wrong, I think what his doing is great. But, me and you both know that Mr Stark was like this before the suit. I need him to focus on the Iron Works division and I need him at that next meeting."

"I give you my word Mr Stark will be fully prepared for the next meeting."

"Thank you." Mr Benson went back to typing but stopped again. "By the way, Miss Potts, is a congratulations in order?"

"I'm not sure what your asking."

"Mr Stark was asking about being a father before he left the meeting and you say he has stuff on his mind. So, pressumably..."

"No, no, no," Pepper said, catching his drift. "I'm not pregnant."

"Oh right, sorry. I better get back to work. Good day Miss Potts."

Pepper just smiled at him before going. She returned to her own office where she had left a friend of hers; Maria Tanner, junior accountant, looking after Elizabeth. The two were sitting on the floor playing with an Iron Man action figure she had gotten her hands on.

"Thanks Maria, you can get back now."

"It was no problem." Maria handed over the figure to the child and ran a hand through her hair earning a happy gurggle. "She reminded me of when I used to baby sit my little sister." She took Pepper's helping hand up. "Very adorable."

Elizabeth gazed up at them with big brown eyes, Pepper gave her an adoring wave. "She is."

"She's your niece?"

"Yes."

"Well you never know maybe one day you and boss man will have cute kids like this running around." Maria gave her a suggestive wink, Pepper forced a chuckle.

Oncle Maria was gone, Pepper took her place on the floor. Luckily she had chosen to wear suit trousres today instead of the very innapropriate skirt Tony had suggested.

Elizabeth waved the figure up and down excitedly, then stuck it in her mouth to chew with the very few teeth she had. Being a possible choking hazard, Pepper quickly removed it. She made flying actions with it in the air and added the occasional 'woosh' sound affect. Elizabeth clapped her hands together in approval. Pepper handed the toy back and watched the baby try and immitate what she had just done with it. Whilst doing so she had nothing to do but get caught up in her own thoughts.

Tony could be a father. She appeared to be composed as one of them had to be reasonable about this situation but inside the news had hit her like a ton of bricks. Her romantic relationship with Tony was going better than she first expected it would. For the past four months he had been the perfect boyfriend and she loved him. She had not told him this yet, she was hoping he would say it first, but she was completely sure that what she felt towards the man was real.

Now there was a possibility Tony could have children. That wasn't a problem for Pepper, long before this, long before they became romantically involved, she made the decision to stand by him no matter what. But could Tony handle sticking by her? That's what made her worry. Along with their relationship Tony already had enough on his plate of responsibilities with being a superhero, reluctantly showing up to meetings and running a multi millon dollar company. Adding children into the mix; something else was inevitably going to suffer. She doubted it would be Iron Man and there's no way it could be the company and she wouldn't allow it to be the childen. That just left the relationship.

She cleared these thoughts from her mind, if her boyfriend was a dad then she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

Elizabeth had stuck the figure back in her mouth, Pepper removed it again and playfully began tickling her.

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

"Is it fun being Iron Man?" Lucas asked, digging through the glove compartment he found a pair of aviator Ray-Bans and put them on.

"More fun than you could ever imagine," Tony replied.

"Awesome! Can I have a go in the suit?"

"You're a bit small kid."

"Well, can I have a go when I'm bigger?"

"Tell you what kid, you can have them sunglasses and I'll hook you up with a replica Iron Man mask. It has sound effects."

"Thanks." Lucas sounded happy enough about this compramise. If only wars could be sorted out this easy.

Tony rounded a corner and reached out to help himself to some skittles from the boy's open packet. Thankfully, he'd finally stopped calling him dad, although it did cost him $20. The DNA results hadn't even come back yet and Lucas was already costing him money. Tony smiled to himself.

Soon enough they were were back at the Stark Industries building. Tony pulled forward the car seats to grab the shopping he put there, not a smart idea as it wasn't bagged up. The box of curry refused to come out from where it got caught under the seat without a struggle first, which Lucas found funny.

With a quick message he found out his girlfriend was in her office with the boy's sister. As they made their way there he found himself explaing to Lucas about different parts of the company. The young lad was highly curious and Tony was surprised at himself that he didn't mind explaining things. Even when using words probably longer than Lucas' entire vocabulary, Lucas patiently listened with interest.

"Honey I'm home," Tony greeted, pushing open the office door. Pepper and Elizabeth were on the floor playing some game with an action figure of himself. It was a sweet scene he thought.

"So what happened?" Pepper asked.

"Won't get the results until tomorrow morning." Tony explained. He walked around her to put the shopping on her desk. Lucas followed; wanting to know what the 'Swinging Sticks Kinetic Energy Sculpture' was on her desk, or as Tony called it, 'The spinning sticks of all things evil.'

"That's not long to wait."

Tony felt Pepper's hand on his shoulder, he turned round and went to kiss her but she held hands up to stop him. She nodded towards Lucas who was now looking up at them, Tony smirked and landed a kiss on her anyway.

"Eww!" was the boy's reaction.

Pepper pushed Tony back her cheeks burning red. It made him want to kiss her even more.

"I sorted out everything with Mr Benson," she said. "There will be another interview in two weeks time and you are expected to attend..."

"Hey, I did!"

"...And stay until the end."

"If you insist."

The next hour passed by pretty quick; Tony isolated himself in his office and made several phone calls to the right people until he finally found an address for Lucas and Elizabeth's mother. A small neighbourhood in Clifton, Staten Island. Less than an hours drive from where they were now in Midtown Manhattan. He also discovered that had been her sixth known address in the past three years, that was weird. And the more he thought about her the more he could vaguely remember spending time with her. Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him, making things up creating unnecessary stress. He was too impatient to wait around for DNA results.

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

"You're where!?" Pepper's voice came shouting out the speakerphone.

"Just left the Hugh L Carey tunnel!" Tony replied cooly as he drove along. "Should have flown, would have been quicker."

"Where are you going?"

"Staten Island, I may have found Diana Chase."

"So why have you left the kids and why didn't you tell me before rushing off?"

"Sorry Pep, it was spur of the moment. I want to check it out first. Something doesn't seem right." He waited for his girlfriend's reply but there wasn't one. "Trust me. I'm a superhero remember."

"How could I forget." She finally spoke, "I'm going to go back to your apartment soon, people keep asking questions about Lucas and Elizabeth. Keep me updated and stay out of trouble."

"Don't worry Pepper," Tony knew 'stay out of trouble' was her way of telling him to 'stay safe'. "I will."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note:**_Hey guys! Here's a short chapter to help get the story in place. Any suggetsions to what you'd like to see in this story and feedback parts you like and dislike? It helps me tailor my future chapters to your liking thanks for reading by the way!

Oh I know, I know, Diana could have just given the letter in this chapter to Lucas to give Tony... But I didn't think of that at the time haha -_- ;) :P

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

It hadn't taken Tony long to reach the neighbourhood he wanted. He didn't like it, the appearence wasn't extremely run down but the atmosphere made him feel on edge. Kids and young teenagers who looked like they should be in school took over the streets on their bikes, eyeing his supercar which stood out like a sore thumb as he drove along. Curtains twitched as people watched him from the confines of their houses.

He pulled up in front of one the many small detached houses. His sat-nav indicated this was the one he was after. Stepping out of his car he was welcomed by a group of children on the opposite side of the road staring right at him obviously not caring whether he saw them doing so. Playing oblivious to their presence, not wanting to start any trouble, he just left them to their staring as he walked through the front yard to the house.

He rang the bell then stuffed his sweaty hands in his pockets. This was more nerve wracking than that time he picked up the blind date he'd been set up on for junior prom.

Tony's nerves grew with each second there was no answer and he could still feel the gaze of the kids across the road on his back. He pulled a hand from his pocket and this time banged it against the frosted glass of the door. But there was still no answer. And come to think of it there was no car in the drive either, Diana Chase had dropped her children off at his company this morning in a car.

"Yo!"

Tony looked round, one of the children that had been watching him from the road side was fast approaching him; pushing his bike by his side across the road and up to the doorstep. He looked about eight years old at the most.

"Yo," said Tony.

The boy dropped the bike which was almost as big as him, Tony wondered how he managed to ride it or maybe it was just a fashion accessory.

"You looking for Miss Chase?"

"Yeah, she lives here right?"

"She took off this morning with Lucas and Elizabeth I think."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

"Yup." The boy nodded. "Yesterday I was over here playing with Lucas and when I was getting ready to go home," He pointed to a house a few doors down, "She told me that today they were all going away this today and I haven't seen them since."

"Did she say where they were going?" Tony carried on with the questioning.

"Nope but Lucas had been talking about seeing his dad soon maybe that's where they went." Was the reply, Tony's heart skipped a beat at the 'd' word and the boy pulled out an envelope from his pocket. "But Miss Chase told me to give this to Tony."

"That's me." Tony went to grab the envelope. The boy was too fast for him and hid it behind his back.

"How do I know?"

A look of disbelief came across Tony's face. "Tony Stark, Iron Man that's me."

"Do I look stupid." The boy laughed. "Iron Man? You're not Iron Man. He's made from metal and he's red and gold and shoots cool lasers out of his hands..."

"Repulsor rays." Tony corrected which went unoticed.

"Plus he can fly! You don't look like you can fly! Plus even if you was Iron Man, I can't give you this letter because it's for Tony Stark."

Tony took out his wallet and impatiently found his driving license to show the boy.

"Fine, so you're Tony Stark," said the boy, "now the matter of the small handling fee." He stuck out his hand and his eyes filled with excitement and surprise as Tony pushed $20 into it.

"Letter. Now!" demanded Tony and the boy finally handed it over to him.

"Thanks man!" the boy said with a big grin on his face. "And if you see Lucas tell him I said hey." He picked up his bike and rejoined his group of friends.

Tony stared down at the envelope for a moment before returning to his car.

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

'_Dear Tony,_

_I want to start by saying sorry. Words cannot express how much I regret keeping my children away from their father. Without scientific proof you probably don't believe me. I don't know if you remember but I was a member of the bar staff at a birthday party you threw for James Rhodes. You got drunk, I got drunk and I found myself back at your hotel room I don't need think I need to explain the rest but, when I woke up the next morning you were gone, not that I was expecting anything more. I'd heard of your infamous reputation. Then it was around two months later I discovered I was pregnant with Lucas. My boyfriend at the time knew it couldn't be his as he wasn't able to have children, I told him I didn't know who the father was still we didn't last long after Lucas was born._

_There were so many times I thought about attempting to get in contact with you but, part of me was scared. I saw how the media portrayed the women who claimed to have children by you and I didn't want to put Lucas through that, plus you were a partying playboy I didn't think you'd take kindly to the sudden responsibilty of a child._

_Years passed by and when managed to just about put you to the back of my mind Lucas got to that age where he would ask about who his father was. It was hard to explain but I gave him the story to that his daddy was a very busy man. That's when I moved near to Manhattan. Then imagine my surprise when Tony Stark and company turned up at a club in Brooklyn one evening where I happened to be celebrating a friend's birthday. I somehow managed to you alone at one point in the night but you didn't remember me and you was too intoxicated to have a coherent conversation so instead I went against all sense my brain could muster up and somehow ended up in your hotel room. Quite a sense of deja vu. Except this time I woke up before you that morning with the intention of dropping the Lucas bomb on you but, I still couldn't do it and left without a word. That encounter led to the birth of Elizabeth nine months later._

_It was weird what happened in the few months leading up to Elizabeth's birth. You got kidnapped, I prayed for you, I prayed that there was still a chance of the children one day knowing their dad. Then you became this amazing superhero, this Iron Man character. You wasn't just that rich womaniser anymore, you was a hero. But becoming Iron Man caused complications, things I don't want to talk about over a letter. That's why I need you now to be a father and look after our children._

_Lucas is a very bright boy, he just needs a little bit of encouragement sometimes. He has all the confidence if not more of his father. Not to mention he's stubborn and usually knows how to get what he wants. Do not let him eat too much candy, especially skittles, he loves them. He also loves superheroes so imagine his excitement when I told him who his father was. Elizabeth loves playing with toys or anything she can get her hands on and you have keep your eye on her as she's just started crawling already. But she does usually sleep all through the night now._

_There's so much more I want to tell you Tony, hopefully soon I'll be able to return. I ask that for everybodies sake that you don't try to find me and please let Lucas and Elizabeth know that I love them._

_Again, I am sorry._

_Diana xx'_

Tony Stark read the letter given to him several times he couldn't deny anything to himself, what happened at Rhody's birthday or clubbing at Brooklyn. Although, he did still manage to deny the children were his without 'scientific proof' as Diana had pointed out. And what was all this over dramatic rubbish about 'don't try to find me'? As soon as he got them DNA results he was going to find her and return her property. Poor children having such a mother. And then there was these 'complications' which came about with him becoming Iron Man, what the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Tony looked up as a middle aged red headed waitress set a hot cup of coffee and slice of what looked like strawberry cheesecake down in front of him.

"I didn't ask for that."

"It's on me." She gave him a friendly smile so Tony thanked her, yet she didn't go away like he hoped she would.

"You look like you could do with it," she went on. "You've been staring at that piece of paper for the past half hour. Official super hero stuff?"

"Not quite." Tony folded the letter over as he noticed her trying to get a sneaky glance of what it said. He took a sip of the coffee and the waitress some how took that as an invite to occupy the seat next opposite him.

"So what brings a man such as yourself to a cafe in this neighbourhood?"

"Just visiting a friend."

"But aren't you dating that cute secretary of yours?"

"When I said friend I mean just a friend."

"Who's lucky enough to have a freind like you around here?"

Tony ignored the question and went on to ask his own, "Do you know Diana Chase?"

"Di is your friend?" the waitress exclaimed. "She sure kept that one quiet."

"No!" Tony said sharply. "I don't know her but the friend that I came to visit, he mentioned that he liked her so I was just wondering if you knew anything about her?"

"Diana's a sweet girl, she always seems between jobs though even worked her for a while. She has two of the cutest children ever. But, between you and me," her voice hushed as she leaned in towards Tony.

"Yeah..." he too leaned forward.

"I don't think your friend would want to get involved at the moment. A few weeks back a man who I wouldn't exactly call friendly came in here looking for her. I think he could be the kid's dad. Might be a messy situation."

"Okay," Tony said. "Thanks, I'll be sure to let my friend know." Suddenly his phone vibrated, it was a message from Pepper, he hadn't called her yet.

He stood up, downed the coffee and headed towards the door. "Cheers for the coffee and cake!"

"But you didn't even eat it!" he heard the waitress call out to him as he left.

He jumped into his car, dialled Pepper's number with his phone on speaker and started the jouney back home.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Author's Note:_**_ I was lucky enough to meet the man himself, Robert Downey Jr, at the Iron Man 3 red carpet London premiere... And yes he is is even more handsome in real life than on screen! __J__ I hope you all enjoyed that movie by the way! And just a reminder that this is set after IM2 and before Avengers and IM3!_

**CHAPTER FiVE:**

_"Hey! Dad, look at what I built!" Young teenager Tony ran into his father's workshop holding a robot he'd spent days building. "It's voice controlled although it seems to only understand French, I was wondering if you could help me fix that."_

_Howard Stark was laying on the ground tinkering with his latest motorcycle project. He barely glanced at his son as he carried on working. "You made it, you fix it."_

_Tony frowned. "I've tried everything, please da..."_

_"How about you work with your old man on a proper project then, like this one here. You won't get anywhere building these toys of yours." Howard sat up revealing an open bottle of alcohol next to him._

_Tony stared at it and shook his head he could have guessed. His father seemed to drink more and more these days. "Thanks, but I'm going to go and fix this myself."_

_Howard looked at the bottle and then Tony. "Don't you like bourbon?" he asked sharply. "_

_Tony rememebed when he was six and his father made him down a glass of single malt bourban to 'make him a man', he hated it and he hated seeing the look on his mother's face who had witnessed it. But he'd done it to win his father's approval, the same approval he was still trying to gain now._

_He took a deep breath, "Yeah," he lied. "Me and a few of the lads at school keep a bottle hidden in our dorm." _

_Howard chuckled and handed Tony the bottle, keeping a watchful eye on him as he took a swig. Tony reluctantly swallowed the foul tasting alcohol and gave a weak smile as he handed back the bottle._

_"That will put hairs on your chest." Howard took a mouthful from the bottle next, obviously enjoying it more than the younger Stark. "Here let me have a quick look at that robot of yours."..._

"Tony!"

"Yeah?"

"You've been standing out here with that glass of bourbon in your hand since you got back. The kids are asleep, today must have been quite exhausting for them." Pepper walked up to the balcony railings next to Tony.

The view wan't as nice as the one from his Malibu cliff house but, he'd been staying over at his penthouse apartment lately whilst doing business at the Manhattan main head offices of Stark Industries. Pepper also had her own appartment nearby as she wasn't very keen on the idea of him carrying her for a daily flying commute. Although, unsurprisingly during their Manhattan stay she'd neglected her own place recently in favour of his but on the odd night she went back there when she needed to get work done uninterrupted.

"I was just thinking." Tony swished the glass around, since getting with Pepper he hadn't really drunk as much as he used to. He took a small sip and screwed his face up as he swallowed it. Even now he couldn't stand the taste.

"I've read the letter." Pepper rested her hand on top of his and rubbed it softly with her thumb.

"I'm sorry Pep."

"You don't need to apologise to me."

"I don't want to drag you into mistakes I made in my past." He paced around and took another mouthful of drink.

"You're not dragging me anywhere, I'm willingly following. And why are you drinking that stuff? You don't even like it."

Tony put the glass down. "It'll put hairs on my chest," he explained. "That's what my father used to tell me when I was a kid. I was six when he forced me to down a glass. Then, when I was a teenager the only way I could get him to spend time with me in between boarding school was to join him for a drink or help with his projects," he sighed. "Yet in the tape he left me he said everything he'd built and worked on was for me and that I was his greatest creation. I never managed to understand him. If, just if the impossible does happen and those DNA results come back positive am I going to turn out to be all like my father?"

"It's okay to be scared Tony."

"I'm not scared," he insisted. "I simply don't want to risk bad press for giving my child alcohol."

"You're not going to turn out like your dad. You're smart enough to learn from his mistakes so you don't have to make them," said Pepper then she jokingly added, "and if you go wrong we'll simply blame it on the babysitter for mistaking a juice box with a beer bottle." She grabbed his arm and pulled him close.

Tony hesitated but the look on Pepper's face was enough to reassure him for now. "Okay," he said as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss upon her lips. In a couple of hours he'd planned to wine and dine her but he guessed that plan was out the window. Although he still wanted to tell her that he loved her.

Right now, no fear just three easy words to say. It was simple, they were on the tip of his tonuge, all he had to do was shove them out and get his lips to form the right shapes. A genius such as himself could manage that no problem. Calm, cool and collected that's how Tony Stark rolled.

"I love you," he mumbled quickly before his brain could talk him out of it.

"Excuse me?" Pepper looked up at him, he couldn't read her expression.

"I said," he spoke clearer this time, "I love you." he didn't get a reply and he still couldn't read Pepper's expression.

"This is really awkward right now, I think this is where you say 'Oh Tony, I lo...'"

"I love you too." Pepper's face suddenly changed to a picture of overwhelming happiness and at the same time Tony couldn't help the extremely goofy smile his mouth made.

He put the children and the mystery that surrounded their mother to the back of his mind. This was a perfect moment and he wanted to make it last for as long as possible.

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

"Where's Lucas!?"

The woman carried on reading her book until she finished the current page, unfazed about the man who had just forced his way into the apartment.

"I wasn't expecting you to find me so quickly." She calmly folded the corner of the page and put the book down on the table in front of her. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.

"Don't mess with me Di!" The man towered over her, he was well built and stood just over 6 foot but Diana knew him too well to be intimidated by him.

"Where is the boy?" he asked again.

"Gone," Diana replied, looking the man straight in the eyes she chuckled, "do you actually think I was going to sell my son to you like he's some sort of science project?"

The man's blue eyes narrowed. "You wasn't saying that when he was born! He'll be dead with in a few years if you don't hand him over!" He grabbed Diana's arm and harshly pulled her up, growling at her. "Do you think you or anybody else are capable of saving him?"

"Nope, not me." A smirk grew on her lips, she yanked her arm free from the man's grip. "But, haven't you heard that his father is some sort of scientific genius?"

"You didn't?"

"I had no choice Julian." Diana walked up to a book case in the corner of the room which also doubled as a shelf to photos of people whom she didn't recognise. That was not surprising seeing as she didn't even know who's apartment this was. "You're the one that wanted to face off with him anyway."

The man, Julian came up next to her. "You think that you and that Stark man will end up like that?" he tapped a photo of what was presumably a married couple and their three young children.

"No," she snorted, she was no fool, she'd long given up hope of that. "But I know he'll look after the children."

"Tony Stark can barely look after himself, you saw the news didn't you?"

"Don't kid yourself you know that he's different now."

"The boss isn't going to be happy about this." Julian ran his hand through his thinning black hair. "You've handed over our weapon against Iron Man to Iron Man."

"My son is no weapon!"

"But my son is!" Julian slammed his hands down on the bookcase sending some of the photos to the floor, their frames smashing in the process. "You let me believe he was mine when he was born so that scientific experiment I created belongs to me and I want it back!"

"This revenge thing you've got in your head isn't going to change anything. I'm sorry. So you can tell your boss guy that you and him can just back off! You're never going to get Lucas now."

"Revenge is all I have left! That man ruined my life Diana! You both did, but you know I can't hurt you." Julian tenderly traced his finger down Diana's cheek. "So now I'm going to ruin his just when he's happy being superhero of the hour I'm goignt to take it all away from him. And the fact that he knows about Lucas now will make oh so better when I use the boy to bring him down."

Diana slapped his hand away from her face. "Just give up!"

"So I guess you told Stark about this?"

"I didn't tell him anything, I thought I should give you a chance to change your mind and see sense."

"Liar!" Julian spat. "You're just scared that Stark won't be able to cure Lucas and if Stark destroys me then there really is no hope for him."

"Jul..."

"I'll win at last."

***IRON MAN*IRON MAN*IRON MAN***

It was 7:12am, Tony sat alone at the breakfast table everybody else was still asleep. Infront of him was a bowl of cornflakes that had gone mushy from sitting in the milk to long, he pushed them around the bowl with his spoon and groaned. This was the morning that he found out if he really was a father to not one but, two children.

He'd lied to Pepper last night, he was scared. He was scared about being a father and also there was something he couldn't quite put his finger on about the message Diana had left him. His gut instinct was telling him that if these test results came back positive it wouldn't just mean responsibility, it would mean danger too.

On the table his more than just smart phone stared to flash and play it's all to fimiliar and catchy ring tone.

_'He's a man on a mission, in armor of high tech...'_

Not bothering to look twice at the caller ID Tony didn't hesitate to pick it up.

"Mr Stark?"

"Speaking," Tony replied, he recognised the voice of Dr Michaels.

"I realise that it's early, I hope I haven't woke you up."

"It's fine," said Tony impatiently. "Can we skip to the results now Maury."

There was a silence which Tony was sure was the doctor's intention in trying to make things dramatic.

"Mr Stark, you're the father of both children."

Tony slumped back in the chair. "Are you sure?"

"100%"


End file.
